


Cost

by orphan_account



Series: Fill the Void [37]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, M/M, Minecraft, Sky Factory AU, Violence, idk its got the blood altar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23752378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jeremy has always been a a creative sort, always looking for new ways to make and create--especially when it came to power.But it would come at a cost that Gavin was helpless to watch.
Relationships: Jeremy Dooley/Gavin Free
Series: Fill the Void [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663750
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Cost

It begins and ends with the blood altar. That which promised so much power, unlimited, absolute power. But all power corrupts one way or another, warps those who have it. In their new world with such wide eyed innocence, they felt as gods, but they weren’t. Not really. They were created just as they created, trapped in an endless cycle like rats, but every once in a while they would forget their own corporeal limitations.

Gavin watched as Jeremy crafted for himself first a forge to melt the raw ore they needed to build with. As he aided in bringing the ore to the smelters, he cut himself across his palm. Blisters bursting from the hard work that went into making their life possible. Some of it dripped from his palm into the molten ore below. Only Jeremy was there to witness it and in his curiosity he discovered what the blood infused metal enabled him to do.

“Does it hurt?” he asked Gavin as he bandaged his bleeding palms. Such deep concern lacing his words.

“s’fine,” Gavin said, wincing as Jeremy tightened the binding on his hands.

“Good. Should be better in a few days then. Take it easy.” He pressed a kiss to Gavin’s cheek before going off to the smelter. Gavin didn’t miss the way something gleamed behind Jeremy’s eyes as he studied the metal infused with Gavin’s own precious blood. But he hardly thought anything of it at the time. It was merely an innovator’s gleam. Nothing more.

Jeremy constructed the blood alter in full months later. A plain thing that could hold half a dozen person in their entirety.

“What do you think?” he asked as he showed Gavin his work.

Gavin eyed the runes carved into the rim of it. It was in a language he was unfamiliar with. “What’s it supposed to do?” he asked. He was genuinely curious as to what Jeremy was going to complete with this piece of craftsmanship.

“Well, we’re going to find out right now.” Jeremy drew out a knife and pressed it to his wrist. Before he could draw blood, Gavin’s held onto both his wrists.

“Whoa! Hold on! What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? It’s a _blood altar,_ Gav. It requires blood. A little self-sacrifice in the name of progress.”

Gavin let him go, and Jeremy smiled at him sweetly. “If you’re sure,” he said.

Jeremy nodded. “I’m sure. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

The change after that was slow, too slow for any of them to take notice as to what a danger they were all in. Jeremy continued to sacrifice his own blood to the altar, building it up ever more to access the mysterious powers within. It gave Jeremy the power of knowledge, and he took that knowledge to build and create. They prospered in the world they built.

Dragons, computers, modern power grids, portals. All enhanced by the knowledge Jeremy gained from his altar. It was all a bit surreal, the feats that they achieved in the time they had the altar at Jeremy’s control. But changes began to occur, and suddenly Gavin was feeling on edge.

One day he came to the altar and noticed that it had changed. Like it had _grown._ There was this strange headpiece to it now extending above it, deep claws sunk into the ground like a leech. It was a blood altar. It was meant to be terrifying. But Gavin hadn’t been terrified up until this point, when he saw the cost of the blood altar’s power.

“What do you think, Gavin?” Jeremy asked. He was still smiling, hardly noticing Gavin’s trepidation. “It’s coming along nicely. I think soon we’ll be able to get the missing piece’s to Ryan’s new fusion generator.”

“Yeah,” Gavin said. “Looks like.”

Jeremy withdrew his knife and handed it to Gavin. “We’ve got a lot more work to do, Gavvy.”

The altar. It had a hold on Jeremy. It changed him, darkened his eyes to something colder, unrecognizable.

They began to spend less time together. Gavin was loathe to admit it, but he spent more time with Michael because he felt as if Michael could protect him from whatever was coming. He often saw Jeremy talking with Ryan, in hushed voices as Ryan worked on his fusion generator. It was to take them into a new age of power production, but no one knew how it was to take shape. Only that it was going to be large and dangerous, something even Ryan feared but as Jeremy would say—

“Think of the progress we’ll make! All because of you, Ryan.”

He worked at Ryan’s wavering belief until he was sure this was something they could achieve. How their lives would be all the better because of this, because of the knowledge Jeremy gained from his use of blood magic.

The fusion generator was built. They all gathered together—sans Geoff who left after the dragons took over his chicken farm—as the final pieces of the generator were put into place. Gavin had to admit it was rather beautiful to behold, just this giant sphere of energy existing between four generational poles to keep it under control. But just as they were enjoying their success something began to happen. The sphere began to grow and pulse. The generator had a taste for energy and it seemed intent on consuming everything around it. Ryan stayed to try and correct the problem, but from the look of pure fear on his face, it was clear that this was something he did not expect. Nor did he know how to fix it.

Michael and Jack scattered. Jeremy’s gaze remained fixed on the generator, looking perfectly calm, looking perfectly alien, eyes glowing a slight red.

Gavin approached him. “Jeremy?” he said. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Jeremy said. “It’s all come down to this?”

“It’s going to destroy everything, Jeremy!” Gavin said. “Why can’t you see that?”

Jeremy turned his face towards him, and Gavin was shocked to see that this was not his Jeremy. The scars upon scars of his arms were glowing, pulsing against his skin like a sickness. So too did the scars on Gavin’s own arms.

“This is power, Gavin. Raw, untameable power. And we’re marked by it.”

Gavin knew he’d lost Jeremy. Perhaps he lost him a while ago, never realized when this _thing_ replaced him. Hungry for the power that only total destruction could cause.

He’d regret it later, but Gavin left Jeremy there, reveling in the pulsating waves that emanated from the fusion generator. He didn’t get far until a white light annihilated them all.

Taken apart, rebuilt again, whatever was in control of them gave them solid forms again and sent them to a new place of creation.

When Jeremy awoke, he felt no power at his fingertips. Tall trees surrounded him. A fully formed world, seemingly ancient in its formation. They were as human as they could be.

The only downside of this rebirth cycle was that they would retain memories from their previous lives. His arms were free of the horrid scars, but his mind was not. He remember what he did, what lengths he went to for power absolute.

Lost in this new world, Jeremy sat stuck in his own thoughts. He was alone. He did not know where the others were or if they were even sent to this world. If this was Jeremy’s own prison to atone for his own greed.

His mind was clear now, free from the blood altar’s influence. He didn’t know what he had been dealing with. If there was some sort of demon on the other side of that altar, speaking through to Jeremy every time he bled for it. Making him work to convince his friends to achieve daring stunts and projects until it culminated in their destruction.

He lifted his head after he heard someone else crashing through the forest. Pulling down their creeper printed cowl, Gavin appeared before. “’bout time I found you,” he said. “Come on, Jeremy! The others are already building a house for us. And there’s more of us, you know! I think this world is going to be pretty sweet.”

Looking at Gavin there lit the fire to his guilt, and he bowed his head. “Gavin … I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me like that. I thought I could control it, but I guess it was controlling me the entire time.”

Gavin stepped up to him. “I’m not going to blame you. We all did things that were pretty risky then. You’re not the only one at fault here.”

“Yeah, but I killed all of us. Every single one of us. I _made_ you cut yourself for my own sick gain.”

“And that wasn’t you,” Gavin said softly. “I mean, yeah, I’m going to be a bit sore about what you did for a while, but you know all of us have done worse at some point.”

Jeremy laughed, feeling a weight settle in his chest, tears in his eyes that refused to be shed. “I thought we were done after that.”

“Well, I couldn’t just leave you behind,” Gavin said. “Not when we got a whole new terrifying world to play about it. What do you say? Wanna check out the new stomping ground? Meet the new kids?”

Gavin extended his hand, and only for a moment did Jeremy consider not taking it. But he did because he knew he wouldn’t make it in this world alone.

“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do it.”


End file.
